Weekend Digest: The Nuclear Boy Genius Edition

TV PREVIEW: A BRUMMETT & A HUCKABEE
On this week’s TV edition of Talk Business & Politics:

Mike Huckabee makes controversial comments. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist and TB&P contributor John Brummett sits down with Huckabee’s campaign manager – and daughter – Sarah Huckabee Sanders for a round of discussion.

There’s a new book about an old institution. Bill “Scoop” Lancaster’s “Inside the Arkansas Legislature” is out. We’ll tell you all about it.

CJRW – the state’s largest ad and PR firm has a new president, chairman and CEO. TB&P‘s Roby Brock sits down with Darin Gray to discuss his new role and what’s evolving in the world of advertising.

Plus, KATV’s Scott Inman will run through the biggest business and political stories of the last week.

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics with Roby Brock on KATV Ch. 7 Sunday at 9 a.m.

WHAT SCARES THE ‘NUCLEAR BOY GENIUS’ FROM ARKANSAS?
The Guardian reports, “He fused the atom at 14, has advised the U.S. government on counter-terrorism and plans to beat cancer – and he’s still only 21. What scares Texarkana native Taylor Wilson? Asking a girl for her number …”

It was in this garage that, at the age of 14, Wilson built a working nuclear fusion reactor, bringing the temperature of its plasma core to 580mC – 40 times as hot as the core of the sun. This skinny kid from Arkansas, the son of a Coca-Cola bottler and a yoga instructor, experimented for years, painstakingly acquiring materials, instruments and expertise until he was able to join the elite club of scientists who have created a miniature sun on Earth.

Not long after, Wilson won $50,000 at a science fair, for a device that can detect nuclear materials in cargo containers – a counter-terrorism innovation he later showed to a wowed Barack Obama at a White House-sponsored science fair.

A Hollywood biopic is planned, based on an imminent biography. Meanwhile, corporations have wooed him and the government has offered to buy some of his inventions. Former U.S. under-secretary for energy, Kristina Johnson, told his biographer, Tom Clynes: “I would say someone like him comes along maybe once in a generation. He’s not just smart – he’s cool and articulate. I think he may be the most amazing kid I’ve ever met.”

For a profile on this “most amazing kid,” click on this link for a reveal on this boy genius who now lives in Reno, Nevada and what he sees as his future.

HOW OUR GRANDPARENTS SURVIVED HOT AND STEAMY SUMMERS
The heat and humidity has been off the charts in Arkansas for weeks now. The escape? Your home AC that although makes the equatorial heat comfortable, is spinning your electric meter like a top. Couldn’t survive without it though, right? Well, then how did our grandparents do it?

Mary Wheeler Schapp is a registered architect who designs and restores historic buildings to their former glory in Cincinnati, Ohio. She offered this expert insight into the features that made older homes livable in the heat.

What were they? Find out here from SolarCity.

ARIZONA CARDINALS MAKE NFL FOOTBALL HISTORY
Not with a player, but with a coach. And not just any coach.

On Monday, the Arizona Cardinals did something that no other NFL team in the history of the league has done before. The Cardinals are believed to be the first team to add a female coach to their staff.

Jen Welter, 37, will join the Cardinals coaching staff for the summer. Welter will help coach the team’s inside linebackers during training camp and the preseason. Welter’s role isn’t a long-term job, as she’ll be a coaching intern during the summer, but it’s still a likely NFL first and has the potential to lead to further opportunities.

For more on Jen Welter and her ground breaking opportunity, go to this link from CBS Sports.

LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! MOBILE IS NOT A MEDIUM FOR BLAST MARKETING
Marketo.com says:

Just glance at people on the street, in line at Starbucks, or sitting on the train during their commute. Notice how many heads are down, with faces welded to these tiny screens, seemingly oblivious to the world around them. People like — no, LOVE — mobile. And this is only the beginning.

To understand how influential our mobile devices are, consider how consumers get their news. The Deloitte media usage survey shows that social media is now usurping the 6 p.m. news bulletin as our source of up-to-the-minute information, and we spend most of our social media indulgence time on our smartphones.

Bottom line: mobile is everywhere, and it’s time for marketers to get on board.

However…Marketo.com says you must use R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Therefore, this is a fantastic opportunity for marketers, provided that they treat this relatively new medium with respect. What do I mean here?

Click here to find out.

GOP CONSULTANT SAYS GOP NOT HIP WITH YOUNGER VOTERS
Vincent Harris, CEO of Harris Media and Chief Digital Strategist for Kentucky Senator and 2016 Presidential candidate Rand Paul, says, “The old way of consuming media is dying” and “in some cases, it is dead.”

We are living in a post-television age for younger voters. This is an age where mundane aspects of life are shared with ones closest friends on Snapchat and where YouTube stars who film themselves eating cereal in their bathtubs are getting an audience with the President of the United States.

“While the media, academics, and pundits have all discussed at length the potential coming problems for Republicans with changing ethnic and social demographics, there has been little discussion of another basic issue in the party: we are dramatically behind in the ways we connect with voters. Put plainly: the Republican idea of online video content is largely predicated on putting a television ad on YouTube.”

While teenagers are thinking of YouTube channels as reality television, Republicans are thinking of them as a place for stale television interviews, scripted to-camera policy dialogues, and :30 second made-for-tv spots. Political video content has changed very little since President Eisenhower launched the first well-known spot in 1952. Focus groups and polls have certainly helped perfect the tone, message, verbiage, and presentation, but political video content has remained scripted, polished, and largely inauthentic.

So what does the GOP need to do to change it’s “content creation strategy” to attract younger voters and “create content people actually want to watch”?

Follow this link for Harris’ creative suggestions.

JEB BUSH SLUMPS, TRUMP LEADS
In the latest poll released this past week, POLITICO reports, “Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential field by a significant margin.”

Fully 20 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they would vote for Trump if the primary were held today — the largest share any single candidate has received in Quinnipiac’s seven surveys over the past two years. That puts the brash real-estate magnate ahead of the two other candidates who earn double-digit support: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 13 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 10 percent.

For a complete look at the poll plus analysis of Trump’s huge lead, go to this link.

THE SINGLE MOST AMAZING SENTENCE FROM A FOCUS GROUP OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS
The Washington Post says, “What makes someone say they want Donald Trump to be the 45th president of the United States?”

Bloomberg Politics’ John Heilemann went to New Hampshire to try to answer that question — sitting down with 12 people professing to support the Donald in 2016. The entirety of the focus group — or at least the part Bloomberg has released today — is worth watching. But one comment — from a woman named Jane – stood out to me.

Here it is.

BIZ GROUP LAUNCHES MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR ADS AGAINST OZONE RULE
The Hill reports “A major business group launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign Tuesday against the Obama administration’s proposal to restrict ground-level ozone pollution limits.”

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says it’s taking a more direct and negative approach with its new ads than in previous campaigns against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule, pointing to various national parks that naturally have more pollution than the proposed limits.

“The group is hoping that the campaign will spur lawmakers to discuss the ozone rule with their constituents during Congress’s August recess and cause the Obama administration to rethink its proposal.”

By highlighting national parks with little human-caused pollution, NAM is trying to show “the absurdity of what the EPA’s proposed,” and that the “EPA’s setting standards that are just out of touch with reality,” Eisenberg said.

For the full story, connect to this link.

FROM NBA TO STARBUCKS
It’s the story about life after basketball for a former NBA All-Star. Vin Baker was a four-time NBA All-Star and Olympic gold-medal winner. His basketball career ended with the Los Angeles Clippers after the 2005-06 season.

Since then, he’s battled alcoholism and financial missteps, gotten sober and become a pastor. His latest move, as McNamara reports, is setting a course toward becoming the full-time manager of a Starbucks in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

For a player who earned $100 million during his career, why is Baker taking this quirky turn in his career path? The answer may surprise you at this link.

VIGILANTES STALKED FUGITIVE FISHING TRAWLER FOR 10,000 MILES
It was considered a renegade, and The New York Times says, “For 110 days and across two seas and three oceans, crews stalked a fugitive fishing ship considered the world’s most notorious poacher.”

What happened in this “epic game of cat-and-mouse” and what was the unexpected end?

Sail to this link for the reveal.

JAMESTOWN REDISCOVERY
Archeologist have made a major discovery at Jamestown, Virginia more than 400 years after remains were buried.

“It’s the most remarkable archaeology discovery of recent years,” said James Horn, president of Jamestown Rediscovery, which made the find. “It’s a huge deal.”

The discovery, announced during a morning news conference at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, deepens the portrait of the first permanent English settlement in North America, established here in 1607.

It also raises intriguing questions about Jamestown’s first residents. What or who was found, and what are those questions? Click here for the story.